Yes, it’s FREE — but only starting from version 8.0U3e!

After months of speculation following Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware, we now have clarity — VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) 8.0U3e is officially available for free, directly from Broadcom.

This is massive news for:

• Homelab enthusiasts
• IT professionals training on their own hardware
• vExperts testing integrations and new features
• Small businesses who need a reliable virtualisation platform

Let’s break it down…

What’s New: Free ESXi 8 is Now Real (But ONLY 8.0U3e and Above)

Broadcom has released VMware vSphere Hypervisor 8.0U3e as a free ISO download, complete with a free license key for standalone use.

This version is the first and only one under the new licensing model to be offered for free.
Download File: VMware-VMvisor-Installer-8.0U3e-24677879.x86_64.iso
Build Number: 24677879
Size: 618.34 MB

Previous ESXi 8 builds (like 8.0U1 or U2) are not available with a free license anymore. Make sure you download 8.0U3e or later.

How to Access the Free ESXi 8.0U3e ISO from Broadcom

Follow these exact steps to access and download:

Step 1: Go to Broadcom’s Support Portal

https://access.broadcom.com/

Step 2: Register for an Account

• Click Sign Up if you’re not already a member.
• After registration, verify your email address before proceeding.

Step 3: Log In and Navigate to “My Downloads”

• Once signed in, click on your profile dropdown and go to My Downloads.

Step 4: Click on “Free Software Downlaod avaliable HERE”

• In the Downloads section, locate and click on Free Software on the left panel.

Step 5: Select “VMware vSphere Hypervisor”

• You will see the latest versions listed here.

Step 6: Download the ISO

• Look for:
• tick on the I agree the Teams and Condictions
• Click into VMware vSphere Hypervisor Relese (ESXi 8.0U3e)
  VMware-VMvisor-Installer-8.0U3e-24677879.x86_64.iso
• Click download and save it locally.

Step 7: Retrieve Your Free License Key

• Once downloaded, you’ll see a free license key provided on the same page.
• Apply this license after ESXi is installed to unlock the full functionality for a standalone host.

Ideal Use Cases for ESXi 8.0U3e Free Edition

• Studying for VMware certifications (VCP/VCAP)
• Building a home lab to test vSphere 8’s latest features
• Small, non-clustered virtual environments
• Integration and testing by vExperts and developers

Note: This version does not support vCenter Server integration under the free license. It’s designed for standalone ESXi hosts only — perfect for labs or basic setups.

Special Shoutout to the vExpert & Homelab Community

To all the VMware vExperts, bloggers, and tech YouTubers — thank you for continuously sharing updates, workarounds, and guides. Your insights have helped keep the community informed through the Broadcom transition.

This free version is a huge win for us all.

Whether you’re:

• Setting up a low-power Intel NUC or Supermicro node
• Building out a multi-node lab
• Just getting started with virtualisation…

You now have access to VMware’s powerful hypervisor at zero cost.

Final Thoughts

Broadcom has finally provided the community what many feared would disappear — a free tier of ESXi, now under version 8.0U3e. It’s perfect for labs, learning, testing, and lean deployments.

If you’re a CloudBunch customer or a fellow IT pro and want help installing or managing your ESXi lab — from ISO to VM creation to patching and VM backups — we’ve got your back.

Quick Links

• Register or Login: Broadcom Support Portal
• Download Page: After login, go to My Downloads > Free Software > VMware vSphere Hypervisor

Over to You

Are you running a homelab?
Are you planning to upgrade from an older ESXi version?
Tag your favourite #vExpert and let the community know:
ESXi 8.0U3e is FREE — go get it!

YouTube Videos

Hi All, I just decided to collect all the Sessions on one blog post so that it’s easy for you to go through. We have almost done 40 % of the content which I wanted to deliver. So if you have been following my blog and YouTube Channel well done.

I also would like to thank my subscribers I get motivated by seeing the numbers grow

Also, I would like to remind those who have not subscribed please do so. I publish 2 videos every week and be sure to hit the notification bell so you don’t miss on new content.

So let’s get started shall we, VMware have announced on 5th Feb 2019 that they are no longer going to have a re-certification requirement which was previously for 2 years. more info on this can be found on my previous post.

Certification Path

1. VMware Tutorial for Beginners

2. VMware Tutorial for Beginners what is Virtualization?

Hey All in this video I will take you through some basics of virtualization, starting from some introduction to types of hypervisors.

What is #Virtualization?

Overview #Type1 and# Type2 Type1 #Bare Metal Virtualization

installing the virtualization software VMM on a physical server ie. ESXi

Type 2 #Hosted Virtualization ( installing Virtualization emulator on the host OS like Windows 7, WIndows 10 eg. VMware player, VMware work station, Oracle virtual box.

Further, we can classify the virtualization in three important categories

3. VMware Tutorial for Beginners, what is cloud?

Type 1 and Type 2 hypervisor

Runs directly on the bare metal ( No host OS) Direct access to CPU and Memory resources

We get Better performance, Server consolidation

Servers are used more efficiently value for money Saves on carbon footprint electricity and AC cooling cost. and Easy to manage.

Different types of Service Model

IaaS, PaaS and SaaS

Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service and Software as a Service

Examples Infrastructure as a Service Google cloud, Amazon Web Services, Azure, Rack Space.

Platform as a Service Google app engine, bring your data and application Software as a Service Email, Dropbox, Skype, Whatsapp, Google apps Microsoft Office 365.

4. VMware Tutorial for Beginners | Session 3: installing vSphere 6.7

Session 3 How to connect ESXi to vCenter

1. Download the vSphere Hypervisor from www.vmware.com

2. For the purpose of Demo Install nested ESX ( on Virtual Machine) 3. Configure IPaddress and basic Networks

4. How to connect to the ESX server using a web-client How to add vSphere ESX server to a vCenter

5. VMware tutorial beginners Session 4 vCenter Server

6. VMware tutorial beginners Session 4 vCenter Server Installation

In this video we are going to go through the fundamentals of vCenter Server understand the concept of what is PSC its function. Then we are going to download and install the vCenter Server.

Once successfully deployed, we will connect to it and add a ESXi Host.

Agenda:

PSC ( Platform Services Controler) vCenter with embeded PSC vCetner with external PSC Session

Download vCenter from www.vmware.com Session 4 Learn how to install VMware vCenter Server 6.7 PSC (Platform Services controller) was introduced with vCenter 6.0

The Platform Services controller is responsible for the following infrastructure security functions vCenter Single Sign-On, licensing, Certificate management, etc.

Deployment Type Tiny (up to 10 hosts, 100 VMs) – 2 CPUs, 10 GB RAM. Small (up to 100 hosts, 1000 VMs) – 4 CPUs, 16 GB RAM. Medium (up to 400 hosts, 4000 VMs) – 8 CPUs, 24 GB RAM. Large (up to 1000 hosts, 10,000 VMs) – 16 CPUs, 32 GB RAM. X-Large (up to 2000 hosts, 35,000 VMs) – 24 CPUs, 48 GB RAM – new to v6.5. Installation options Install – for a new fresh installation Upgrade – (6.0 or 6.5 to 6.7) Migrate – (Windows) Restore – corrupt vCenter

7. VMware Tutorial for Beginners Session 5 Create a Virtual Machine

8. VMware Tutorial for Beginners | Session 6: Deploying an OVF/OVA UCS Manager Platform Emulator

9. VMware Tutorial for Beginners | Session 7: Introducing the HTML 5 Client

10. VMware Tutorial Beginners | Session 8 : What is a Template ?

11. VMware Tutorial Beginners | Session 9 : What is a Clone

12. VMware Tutorial for Beginners | Session 10 Working with VMware Snapshots demo Linux password reset

13. VMware tutorial beginners Session 11 VMware Settings vCPU Memory and Disk

14. VMware Tutorial Beginners | Session 12 VMware Memory Management

15. VMware Tutorial Beginners  | Session 13 VMware Tools Installation

In this session, we are going to discuss VMware Tools. What is Vmware Tools (VMTools) Benefits of VMTools How to check if we are running the up to date version

How to Install VMTools

What is VMware Tools is a suite of utilities that enhances the performance of the virtual machine’s guest operating system and improves management of the virtual machine.

You can use the Windows Easy Install Linux Easy Install feature to install

Upcoming Sessions:

I am planning to deliver another 16 sessions that will cover the following content

Advance features of Hot Add CPU and Hot plug Memory.

Datastore and Shared Storage

VMFS 5 and VMFS 6 ( No migration tool to upgrade)

Advance Troubleshooting Performance monitoring CPU, RAM, Network and disk, also look at Task, Alerts, Events.

Networking Standard vSwitch

Networking Distributed vSwitch

Traffic – Management Traffic, vMotion and Fault-Tolerant, VM-Traffic(production).

Migration using vMotion (Compute) and Storage vMotion (storage) (live demo)

Cluster Configuration, High Availability (HA), Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS), EVC Mode (live demo)

VMware Security and Compliance.

VMware Update Manager -Maintenance Patching the ESX host.

VMDS –(VMware Download server for downloading patches via proxy for restricted environments with firewall)

Introduction to Advance troubleshooting using vROPs

Getting started with PowerCLI

Create My learn account

Resources VMware HOL

This will help beginners to understand the concept of VMware Technology and most importantly the terminology. Quite a few of the people who are interested are from different backgrounds and in entry-level, IT positions so they are keen to learn and ask me a question. As of today, I have got nearly 350 subscribers on my YouTube Channel. httpss://www.youtube.com/user/miquraishi